The Woman Beyond the Sea
A mesmerizing novel about three generations of women who have lost each other--and the quest to weave them back into a family.
An immersive historical tale spanning the life stories of three women, The Woman Beyond the Sea traces the paths of a daughter, mother, and grandmother who lead entirely separate lives, until finally their stories and their hearts are joined together.
Eliya thinks that she's finally found true love and passion with her charismatic and demanding husband, an aspiring novelist--until he ends their relationship in a Paris café, spurring her suicide attempt. Seeking to heal herself, Eliya is compelled to piece together the jagged shards of her life and history.
Eliya's heart-wrenching journey leads her to a profound and unexpected love, renewed family ties, and a reconciliation with her orphaned mother, Lily. Together, the two women embark on a quest to discover the truth about themselves and Lily's own origins...and the unknown woman who set their stories in motion one Christmas Eve.
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Gilah Kahn-Hoffmann moved from Montreal to Jerusalem after studying theater, literature, and communications at McGill University. Starting out as a freelance journalist, translator, writer, and editor, she became a feature writer at the Jerusalem Post and, subsequently, editor of the paper's youth magazines. Later, during a stint as a writer at the Israel Center for the Treatment of Psychotrauma, she discovered how fulfilling it is to work for the benefit of others and moved to NGO work in East Jerusalem and the developing world. In recent years, she's come full circle to her first loves and spends her best hours immersed in literary translation.
"[Sarit] Yishai-Levi delivers a multilayered narrative of multiple generations suffering from loss and family destruction against the backdrops of pre-World War II Macedonia, British-managed Israel, and Yom Kippur War-era Tel Aviv....[Her] characters demand empathy as well as attention from readers." --Kirkus Reviews
"The measured pacing allows readers to take in the rich historic detail--Paris's Latin Quarter, Tel Aviv after the Yom Kippur War, pre-World War II Yugoslavia, and Jerusalem under the British Mandate--as the family members struggle with loss and abandonment. Thanks to the memorable characters and solid plot, this has much to offer." --Publishers Weekly
"This story is beautifully written...The difficult birth of a nation is reflected in and indelibly marked upon the lives of Eliya and Lily, and all are stronger for the disasters they have survived." --Booklist
